‘And what did Belle think of all that?’

‘Oh, I dunno, she reckoned I was probably permanently on the lookout for someone to replace my dad, that I’d never got over losing him to Janis after Mum died.’

‘That’s absolute bollocks,’ said Judith, in defence of her friend. ‘Christ, I hate it when people start analysing … bloody pop psychology. At the end of the day she’s a drama teacher, for God’s sake.’

‘Yeah, maybe. Anyhow, next thing she’s telling me to get on my feet. “Show us the pain, Lana,” she says, “the heartache of being starved of attention. Let’s see you desperate, Lana, and clawing …”’

Judith started laughing, enjoying Lana’s impression of Belle, and the more she laughed, the more Lana played up to it, always loving an audience.

‘“You’re trying to call out, but you have no voice … you cannot be heard …” Honestly, Jude, I looked round at the rest of the group and they were so eager to see me turn myself inside out, emotionally, like … so I thought, Right, I’ve either got to dive in with this one hundred per cent, or get the hell out of here. And within seconds I was improvising this piece of performance art, with a pained expression on my face like the painting by that Edward Monk fella …’

‘Munch, you mean. The Scream,’ said Judith, becoming hysterical now as Lana re-enacted her performance.

‘That’s him. And I was stretching my arms out, begging, yearning, whilst Belle watched on, banging a drum.’

‘Oh my goodness! You, Lana Lloyd, are one in a million,’ said Judith, tears of laughter streaking her cheeks. ‘Only you, only you!’

‘Thing was, Jude, I quite enjoyed myself once I got going.’

‘Sounds like it!’

‘Oh hell,’ said Lana, looking at the clock on the wall. ‘It’s nearly half past. Come on. Caterina will be waiting …’

Judith looked up Catrin’s new number in her address book and the two girls made their way over to the payphone at the entrance of the wine bar. Lana loaded it with two ten-pence pieces and Judith dialled the Cardiff number, turning the receiver earpiece so that they could both hear their friend on the end of the line. It only rang once before a breathless Catrin picked up.

‘Jude? Larn?’ she said.

‘All present and correct,’ said Lana a little too loudly, buoyed up by white wine and the excitement of being in the company of her two best friends.

‘She’s a bit pissed, Cat,’ yelled Judith down the phone.

‘Outrageous!’ said Lana. ‘I haven’t even started yet!’

‘I am so glad you’re both there. I’ve got something to tell you,’ said Catrin, a hundred and sixty miles away, the tension in her voice undiluted by distance.

‘What’s happened?’ said Judith, serious now.

At the end of the line they heard Catrin take a deep breath before diving in.

‘Oh my God, girls. You will never believe it in a million years …’